Most agents investing in IDX websites

More than 6 in 10 agents have their own IDX websites featuring listings feeds from their multiple listing service (MLS), but only one in four pay for advertisements on national, third-party listing sites, according to a survey of 2,000 real estate agents by ActiveRain, a social media and blogging site for real estate professionals.Agents are also investing heavily in marketing applications and tools that help them create comparative market analyses (CMAs) for clients, and in customer relationship management (CRM) software that helps them manage leads.Websites featuring Internet Data Exchange (IDX) listings were the most utilized real estate technology and software expenditure, with 63 percent of those surveyed saying they employed them. A similar proportion of agents -- 62 percent -- said they use CMA tools, while just over half (51 percent) use CRM tools.Despite the investment in technology, the survey showed direct mail still plays a role in many agents' marketing strategies. Among ...